At the beginning of every yoga class, I impress upon my students the importance of yogic breathing during practice. It is so important that the poses are secondary to yogic breathing; a student can consider their practice perfect, if all they do during class is yogic breathing, while adding few or no poses.

The ancient Indian system of yoga identified prana as the universal life force or energy which distinguishes the living from the dead. Start by finding a slow, deep, rhythmic breath, in through the nose and out through the nose. Then, find a ratio of inhale to exhale wherein the exhale is a little longer than the inhale; the exhale is as powerful at the end as it is in the beginning. On the initial inhale, soften the belly allowing the diaphragm to move downwards and fill up the lungs. On the exhale, drawn the navel in and up, expressing all the air out the lungs. These simple steps will: calm the mind, reduce worries and anxieties; improve focus and attention; increase energy, bringing enthusiasm and positivity; boost the immune system; rejuvenate the body and mind; and, may even slow down the aging process.

Take a moment now to become aware of your breath. Is it deep or shallow, smooth or choppy? Most of us breathe from the chest. Shallow breathing sends a signal to the brain that all is not well and we are stressed. Alternatively, breathing from the abdomen boosts respiration, ensures a rich supply of oxygen to the brain and signals that all is well. If you watch new born babies, you will see that their stomachs rise and fall as they breathe in and out. This type of breathing calms the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) our body’s fight, flight, freeze reaction and switches on the Parasympathetic Nervous System
(PNS) producing a feeling of calm and relaxation.

If we breathe a lower volume of air by breathing in a slow controlled fashion through the nose, we increase the amount of carbon dioxide, and can deliver more oxygen to our muscles and organs including the heart and brain. Breathing in and out more air than necessary results in hypocapnia, a state of reduced carbon dioxide in the blood. You inhale and exhale too much when breathing in and out the mouth. This reduces oxygen to the brain and body tissues. Nasal breathing increases the levels of nitric oxide. A key signaling molecule used throughout the body. It regulates air flow and helps prevent
over-breathing.

More professional athletes are now using the ancient wisdom of pranayama breathwork to excel at their sport. Ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek, seven-time consecutive winner of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, states that slowing down his breath rate and breathing from his belly through his nose, is essential to his athletic success.

Pay attention to your breath. Breathing in and out of the mouth signals the nervous system that something is wrong. Mouth breathing means difficult breathing and this, in turn, means deficient oxygenation of the tissues with the result of lowered vital organ and brain activity. To move from the SNS into the PNS, find an everyday situation and train your brain to start automatically breathing yogic breath. One suggestion is when driving, each time you come to a stop light, soften your belly and inhale then exhale slowly always through the nose. Over time you will naturally begin to exist in a state of calm and relaxation, instead of in a state of constant stress and anxiety.

Thank You to Trudee Sanbonmatsu, Park City’s Best Yoga Instructor 2015 & 2016 for taking the time to prepare this article. If you feel it’s time to benefit from Yoga -try a class with Trudee, check out her studio website, Yoga Kula Project for classes and times. Namaste! 💚🙏🕉🌸

Typical in a winter mountain ski town, the ‘colds’ and ‘sniffles’ tend to linger. We stay up late nights on Main St. for last call, followed by early morning wake ups for ‘first chair’. This process when repeated, with not-so-healthy food added to the equation/ lack of proper nutrients, brings a toll to our system. Our immune systems become weak, inner terrain acidic, and thus more susceptible to colds and flu viruses. Therefore, it is important to try to make up for some of the negative things we do to our bodies with good things we can do.

Raw fruit and vegetable ‘juicing’ is one of those important things we can do, especially in our ski town winter environment -where we may not see a lot of fruits and veggies during the winter. Juicing allows you to intake the nutrients of large amounts of vegetables and fruits that we may normally not take the time to take with our busy schedules. For example, when was the last time you ate a dozen carrots in one sitting? With juicing you can intake that amount of nutrients in easy to finish delicious drink.

Juicing does, however, take out the ‘fiber’ in this process which gives you a concentrate of nutrients, versus blending fruits and veggies which retain fiber in the drink. There is nothing wrong with blending vs. juicing, however, the level of nutrients in a blended drink will not be as high. Fiber is important for your body, so if you juice a lot -make sure to keep that in mind. For more info on juicing here’s a link with the benefits described in further detail.

In Park City, you have a few options for getting your RAW juice intake. You can purchase local veggies and fruits from the Farmer’s Market on Wednesdays beginning in June. A home juicer can be purchased anywhere from the $80-250 price range. There are a few local places that offer raw juice in Park City. You can go to Fairweather’s and knock out some grocery shopping in the p
rocess. Booster juice also offers wheatgrass shots and other fruit smoothie drinks. And finally, there is a new company called
My Liquid
Garden that will deliver RAW juice to your Park City home or business! If you’re a Parkite and haven’t tried juicing yet, we hope you try it soon!

Got boysenberries? Head down to the Park City Farmer’s Market TODAY from noon till 6pm at The Canyons Resort for best selection of Utah’s finest grown foods. We offer the very best organic, no spray, NON GMO food you can find in this wonderful State!

Tomorrow is the LAST Farmer’s Market day for the month of August, make sure to stop by and stock up on fresh local goodies! Check out the rest of this website update, we have some good info to share!

Thank you for all your support with our Ice Cancer with Hockey Fundraiser Hockey Game. We were able to raise a lot of money for the Be The Match Donor Registry, and we are excited to sponsor the fundraiser again next year for Dr. Lisa! We received great support from the local community -thank you for coming out!

In addition, Park City’s own pro skier and videographer, Ian Provo, filmed an awesome video of the Hockey Game for us to share on YouTube! Check out the Undefeated Volker’s Flying Penguins facing off against the Park City Miners!

We hoped you liked the video, but don’t go away just yet, we have some exciting new vendors to tell you about.

First on our list, is Jenson Farm Sweet Corn & Produce. Please remember that these are one of our only GMO-FREE corn. We encourage you to learn about the dangers of GMO’s, and support our farmer’s like Jenson Farm who go out of their way to make sure their food is 100% Natural, with NO Sprays or Pesticides used ever in the entire growing process. Don’t be fooled by farmers who tell you they need to spray, if they researched real farming techniques like Jenson Farm does -they would figure out that they don’t have to spray as well.

A little late because they were busy setting up their awesome new market trailer, but The Flying Fish of Utah is back and ready to offer you the freshest sustainable seafood products!

Here is a list of their current menu.

Stop by and say hello to new vendor, Kathy Cartier, who hand makes some very attractive pieces. You will not find any nicer gift cards anywhere else in town!

Kathy makes some very cool pillow covers!

Next on our list of TOTALLY AWESOME FARMERS is The Garden of Stephen. Stephen is an all natural farmer that uses 100% organic methods, and does not use ANY pesticide sprays whatsoever in any of his plants.

So how do NO SPRAY farmer’s avoid damage from certain bugs and insects that other farmer’s would spray pesticides for? Simple, we actually visited The Garden of Stephen in Salt Lake to see how. Organic farmers have figured out that you can plant certain types of flowers within their fields to ward off bugs. This specific yellow flower you see below does the same job that those toxic pesticides do!!!

And don’t believe any farmer that will tell you they get a higher yield when they spray their tomatoes with poison. These are pictures from Stephen’s NO SPRAY farms, as you can see the tomato yields are incredible with all natural methods. We visited tomato farms that very same day that do spray, and the yields, even though were healthy -did not look anything like Stephen’s you see below.

The Park City Farmer’s Market also took a tour at Smith’s Orchards in Provo. We’ll get you some more info on Smith Orchards soon, but the tour was incredible. Smith Orchards, by far, has the very best Peach Farm setup in the entire state of Utah. More info on Smith Orchards coming soon, but in the meantime, you MUST try these amazing peaches.

Thanks for checking us out Park City, don’t forget to tell your friends and family about the Park City Farmer’s Market -tomorrow from noon to 6pm at The Canyons Resort!

We can no longer ignore the world we have created for our children. Our ignorance is destroying our planet at an alarming rate. We at the Farmer’s Market have always tried to bring you great product -and we pass all our State inspections with flying colors. However, Volker and the Park City Farmer’s Market Team and Staff is making a renewed dedication to YOU and OUR WORLD to go above and beyond what any government regulation would ever require. We want the PARK CITY Farmer’s Market to be the example of all other Farmer’s Markets in the world.

This is what the Park City Farmer’s Market believes and wants to inspire in others locally to spread amongst their friends:

We do not believe in GMO or any product produced with a Monsanto Brand Seed or Monsanto Anything. If you are using GMO products of any kind, please contact Volker as soon as possible. We will help you convert to organic or no spray non-gmo product and pay the difference in your cost. We will even help you grow pesticide-free product if it is not available in Utah.

We do not believe in spraying PESTICIDES on ANY plants or food, especially those that will later be consumed by human beings. Farmer’s that do so are GUILTY of polluting our waters and destruction of our bee and much needed insect population. If bees were to die off, which they are dying rapidly already -scientist say ALL human food in the world would disappear in less than 4 years. We will be interviewing our Farmer’s that claim “No Pesticides Spray” -WE WANT TO PROMOTE YOU MORE! As a “thank you” for protecting our environment -All Farmer’s who have produce in the 2012 Farmer’s Market that uses no Pesticides will get preferential booth placement at the Farmer’s Market along our new “No Spray” zone.

We are a Utah Farmer’s Market, therefore we want to sell UTAH Produce. We do not believe in shipping our produce in from outside of UTAH. California produce should be sold in California. Mexico tomatoes should be sold in Mexico. It’s not that we are against the product -we are against the oil and fuel burned for those products to get here such long distances.

Farmers and Vendors we need your help!

If you use organic methods for your products and would like to share your story -please contact the market so we can make you a guest blogger on our site!

PARK CITY WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Please share this information with your friends. Also, we are very much in need of a Vegetarian Option Food Vendor, or anyone that has a ready food business that is veggie or vegan option. Please contact the market asap if you are intersted at VolkersBakery@Gmail.com

THANK YOU PARK CITY!

Please Help Us Spread the Word. Watch And Share These Important Videos!

There is a new healthy food documentary that contacted us, Forks Over Knives, which opens this Friday, July 15th at Park City’s Holiday Village Cinema. Rip Esselstyn of Engine 2 Diet, Caldwell Esselstyn of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, and T.Colin Campbell of the China Study are all featured in this film.

A “must see” movie by both Dr. Oz and Roger Ebert and the film’s star doctors were on Dr. Oz’ show recently.

Thank you Park City -and we hope to see you all at the Farmer’s Market tomorrow at The Canyons Resort! Starts at NOON so don’t forget -and tell all your friends! And to the folks who had the winning ticket numbers from last week’s market -don’t forget to stop by and claim your prizes by 4pm! Thanks!